Afraid
by MessrsAidingMischief
Summary: Fred and George aged seven and a half  -Merlin forbid you forget that half!-  decide to play a game with their siblings. But what happens when they get trapped in a trunk? Rating due to very very minor adult themes.


**Kiddie Fred and George, who doesn't love them? Those of you reading The Feather Duster Chronicles, I promise I have an update planned for tomorrow. My laptop crashed and I worked out my frustration of losing all of my documents by writing this little thing. Hope you enjoy this!**

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><p>"Freddie wait up! I'm not as fast as you are!" George called, his tiny legs tripping him up as he ran after his twin. Fred came to a stop to wait for his brother, eyes bright. They were going on an adventure! Fred had found a loose panel on the garden fence so they were going to explore the big fields around them and battle monsters. They'd always win though, because they were the unbeatable masters of all!<p>

"Hurry up Georgie! Quickly quickly before Mummy makes us go back and play with Ron!"

"Fred! George! I wanna play!" A stumbling little girl in dungarees was running after George, her face flushed in excitement at the prospect of a game. She didn't want to have to stay with Ron either, he didn't play the same games Fred and George did.

"Ginny go back home! Mummy'll look for us if you're not there!"

"Boys? Where do you think you're going?"

Fred and George exchanged a groan and glare at their baby sister. "Busted."

Xoxoxox

After a very stern lecture about sneaking out and not playing nicely with their brother, the twins were allowed to go upstairs. Ginny and Ron followed them into their room, and the four sat together on George's bed. Bill and Charlie soon joined them, but Percy stayed in his room saying they played bad games that got them into trouble. Bill wouldn't let the twins go put more newts in Percy's bed. As much as they wanted to, the boys knew that Bill knew best when it came to the line they could cross with their tricks. He was cool like that.

"Bored!" Ginny announced, rubbing her eyes the backs of her hand.

"We could make Ron's teddy a spider again!" Fred said, but a quick shake of the head from Bill and a whimper from Ron made him sigh. "Or not."

"What about hide and go seek?" Charlie suggested, grinning. He knew some of the best hiding places.

Bill frowned. "Ginny's too little to hide by herself, and we have to let her play or Mum will go bananas."

"Well the little ones could hide in pairs? Ron and Ginny could hide together, and so could Fred and George!"

The twins were about to protest that they were _not _little thank you very much, when Charlie winked at them. He knew that they'd want to hide together. That was why Charlie was equal best brother with Bill.

This arrangement seemed to satisfy Bill, and he offered to count to twenty so they could all go hide. "You have to stay inside the house though!" He had added as they all ran out of the room, ruining Fred and George's plan to go hide behind the fence.

Ginny and Ron tottered off towards the cupboard, Charlie went dowstairs, and the twins went up.

They went up as high as they could, towards the attic where the ghoul was. They weren't going to hide with the ghoul though, they had a much better idea. On the top floor below the attic there was a load of boxes that needed to be moved, so together they wriggled into the biggest trunk and closed the lid. It was a tight squeeze though, and too hot, and George was convinced the sides of the trunk were moving in on them.

They stayed there for a long time, long enough for them to think their siblings had forgotten them. Bored, Fred tried to open the trunk, but he couldn't. The lid wouldn't lift up. It was like something had fallen on top of it!

"HELP!" He screamed, banging on the lid. "George George we have to yell super loud so they know we're here! George help! HELP! HELP US!"

Fred screamed until his voice was croaky and his throat was sore, but no one came. George hadn't said anything. Fred was mad. How did George expect them to get out if he didn't help?

Wriggling closer to his twin, Fred felt around in the dark until he was touching George's face. It was wet. "Georgie? Georgie are you crying?" Fred asked, dumbstruck. George never cried. Even when he fell out of the tree and got bit by gnomes he didn't cry, and that had had to have hurt a lot!

"No," George sniffed, wiping his eyes with his sleeves. "Well, maybe a little bit. But you can't tell anyone Freddie or they'll laugh!"

"I wont tell!" Fred said anxiously, hugging his twin tightly to him. "Why are you crying George? Is it the dark? I don't like it either."

"No not the dark. It's too _small_ and it feels like I can't breathe, it's all tight _here,_" George whispered, pressing Fred's hand to his chest.

Fred could remember their Mum telling them about things called panic attacks, she'd said that when people got scared sometimes they couldn't breathe and they could get really poorly. He had to be able to make George better somehow though!

"It's okay George, I'm here. You can breathe fine, honest you can. We'll breathe together right? In and out, in and out," Fred prompted, encouraging his twin with his own gasps of air. He reached up and wiped the last of George's tears away, humming in his ear the lullaby their Mum sometimes sang to them. The one about the owl and the cat. George's breathing gradually eased and Fred leant close to whisper in his ear. "Someone's going to find us soon Georgie, I promise. We're going to be okay."

The twins fell asleep in one anothers' arms, each clinging to the other like a lifeline. It was Arthur who found them, having returned home to a hsyterical Molly and frantic children, all searching for their brothers. Even Percy had joined in the hunt, biting his lip and worrying it might have been his fault for saying they were nasty horrid brothers after they put the newts in his bed. Arthur had remembered the twins watch him carry the boxes upstairs, and when he found a book tower had collpased on the trunk he just knew they had to be in there.

Molly had helped him carry them down to their room, and after making sure they were healthy they had pressed soft kisses to their foreheads and whispered goodnight with the tenderness only a parent can have for their child.

Fred had waited until the door was closed before climbing into his brother's bed, the boys curling up together and telling each other stories about their future joke shop to distract themselves until they fell back to sleep.

From that night on, George knew never to let Fred be alone in the dark, and Fred kept his twin out of any circumstance involving small spaces. They were determined to protect one another even more. Some nights, even as teenagers at Hogwarts, one would wake with the memories of that night in the trunk, and still scared they would go to the other for comfort. Their roommates quickly grew accustomed to waking up and finding George and Fred sharing a bed, never commenting on the dried tear tracks that ran down one or the other's face.

The night after the Battle of Hogwarts, George sought Harry out to ask him one question, just one. Was there darkness when you died?

Harry's promise of light, of a place Fred would be happy did not make the loss of Fred any easier. But George didn't fear that his twin would be afraid any longer. Fred would never have to face the dark again.

And many decades later, when his grandchildren were grown, George too would travel to the place of light and open spaces, and be welcomed with open arms by his twin. Parted, and reunited, by death.

They would never have a reason to be fearful again.

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><p><strong>I did cry writing this, but I'm hoping you guys didn't. It was meant to be a really bright fic and turned a little sad towards the end. Reviews earn you chocolate brownies and sundaes!<strong>


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